New battery concept that charges in seconds but lasts for hours

The researchers of the University of Central Florida have come up with a brand new battery concept that has the capacity to provide power at least twenty times longer than that of the conventional ones; moreover, it charges up in seconds!

Conventional batteries vs Supercapacitors

To turn things more interesting, the latest prototype does not indicate any sign of battery degradation even after charging it more than 30,000 times during its usage history.
However, the conventional ones (lithium ion battery) start to lose its power capacity approximately after 18 months after each charging cycle diminishes the capacity in smaller amounts.

The prototype is called a supercapacitor, which conserves energy on the surface of its material. Through graphene the researchers have managed to create larger surface; hence allowing more electrons to be conserved to ensure further improved battery life.

Major problems it can solve

Courtesy IBTimes UK

The research is ongoing and the researchers are highly optimistic. If it truly becomes a success, no one will be ever left with a dead smartphone during emergencies. The latest electric cars will have more power and speed, hence making it more popular. More popularity will eventually solve the problems related to global warming.

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I hold a super capacitor patent. The trouble with supercapacitors is that their voltage drops linearly with energy use, so when half the energy is depleted the the voltage drops to half the fully charged voltage.Batteries behave differently. A 12 volt battery lead acid battery for example has only one volt difference between fully charged and empty. This constancy of voltage allows good performance from full to empty.
Another problem with supercaps is that they often have a very high self-discharge rate, meaning that they drain themselves even when not connected to anything.

Irene Adler

I guess the smartphone hangs on to the last 10% of its battery and lets you do nothing except answering phone calls and sending texts…
I am unsure; however, other websites are claiming as such..

Danny Dunn

Doesn’t voltage drop linearly with charge, not energy?

Energy stored in a capacitor is CV^2/2 IIRC, so a lot of the energy is stored in the higher end of the range. Still not as flat as a battery but with a good conversion circuit it shouldn’t be a big deal.